An application of principal component analysis for pre- harvest forecast model for rice crop based on biometrical characters

An application of principal component analysis for the development of suitable statistical models for preharvest forecast of rice yield based on biometrical characters has been dealt with in the present paper. The data obtained from the two experiments on rice have been utilised to develop the model. The forecast yields of based onthese models have been found to be 24.25, 22.60 and 21.10 q/ha against the actual yield of 28.00, 23.56 and 21.85 q/ha, respectively, in experiment –I. For experiment –II the forecast yields were found to be 24.62, 28.06 and 29.43 q/ha against the actual yield of 28.82, 29.31 and 26.59 q/ha, respectively. These forecast yields are subject to maximum of almost 10 percent standard error. In most of the cases, the forecast yields were found to be close to the actual yield except in some cases. The values of R2, i.e. 79.80 and 72.60 for experiment –I and II, respectively, indicate the validity of the models. Statistical tool like viz. principal component analysis (PCA) has been first time applied to develop pre-harvest forecast model based on experimental data

Pest management and food production: looking to the future

In their comprehensive paper, Montague Yudelman, Annu Ratta, and David Nygaard examine the key issues with regard to pest management and food production over the coming decades. They draw attention to the lack of adequate information on the magnitude and impact of pest losses; with out such information, policy makers are handicapped when devising strategies for meeting food needs. The authors address both chemical and nonchemical approaches to pest management, high lighting the importance of biotechnology. There is growing public sentiment against biotechnology but little appreciation as yet of its contributions to alleviating hunger by, among other things, controlling pest losses. The authors also adress the important subject of the roles of different actors in pest management, most notably the private sector. A world with out pests is unrealistic and probably undesirable. However, a world with severely reduced losses of food production to pests is achievable by 2020. This paper shows us how.Food crops Diseases and pests Control., Pests Integrated control.,

Opiskelijoiden kokemuksia ultraäänihoitajakoulutuksesta 2011-2012

Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoitus on kerätä palautetta opiskelijoilta, jotka osallistuivat Metropolia Ammattikorkeakoulun järjestämään ultraäänihoitajakoulutukseen vuosina 2011-2012. Kerätyn palautteen perusteella koulutusta on mahdollista kehittää. Opinnäytetyö on toteutettu kvalitatiivisen lähestymistavan mukaan. Analyysimenetelmänä käytin induktiivista sisällönanalyysiä. Suomessa väestön ikääntyminen ja hoitoalan rajalliset resurssit puhuttavat sekä alalla että mediassa. Etenkin lääkäripulaan haetaan monessa kaupungissa ja kunnassa ratkaisuja muun muassa ulkoistamalla palveluita. Lääkäripulaan apua tuovat tehtäväsiirrot, jotka vaativat hoitajien lisäkoulutusta. Röntgenhoitajille, sairaanhoitajille ja kätilöille täydennyskoulutuksena annettava ultraäänihoitajakoulutus mahdollistaa sen, että kyseisen koulutuksen saaneet hoitajat voivat itsenäisesti tehdä tiettyjä ultraäänitutkimuksia. Näin lääkäreiden työmäärää saadaan kevennettyä. Vastuu tutkimuksista ja ultraäänihoitajan työskentelystä säilyy edelleen lääkäreillä. Metropolia Ammattikorkeakoulu on järjestänyt ultraäänihoitajakoulutuksia vuodesta 2003 lähtien ja kurssista on kerätty palautetta, jotta opiskelijoiden mielipiteet koulutuksesta ja sen tarpeellisuudesta saadaan selville. Tässä tutkimuksessa palautteita kerättiin teemahaastatteluilla. Tarkoituksena oli kuulla opiskelijoiden kokemuksia avoimesti ja omin sanoin kerrottuna. Mielipiteiden ja kommenttien perusteella tutkimuksessa tuodaan esille ehdotuksia koulutuksen kehittämiseksi. Kehitysehdotukset on kerätty haastattelemalla koulutukseen osallistuneita henkilöitä. Työssä kerrotaan ensin yleisesti Ultraäänihoitajakoulutuksesta ja tutkimukseen liittyvistä käytännöistä. Lopuksi esitän opiskelijoilta kerätyn palautteen. Opintopalautteen perusteella kurssia on mahdollista kehittää käytännössä enemmän opiskelijoita palvelevaksi. Opiskelijoiden antamat vastaukset osoittivat, että toiveita koulutukseen ja sen kehittämiseen on sekä oppilaitoksen että työpaikkojen osalta. Eniten kritiikkiä tuli teoriaopintojen ja käytännön harjoittelun ajoittamisesta ja suhteesta toisiinsa. Aina työpaikan resurssit eivät olleet riittävät tarvittavaan harjoitteluun. Vastuut ja tiedonkulku koulun ja työpaikan välillä tulisi selvittää ja sopia jo aikaisessa vaiheessa, jotta tieto opiskelijan valmiuksista ja harjoittelun vaatimuksista olisi kaikilla osapuolilla tiedossa.Student’s experience about sonographer training in years 2011 and 2012. The meaning of this study was to collect feedback from students who participated in sonographer training in the Metropolia University of Applied Sciences during the years 2011 and 2012. By using the feedback, the education can be developed. This is a qualitative study. The feedback was analyzed by using inductive analysis. There has been a great deal of talk about population’s ageing and restricted resources in nursing. Particularly the lack of doctors in many towns and municipalities needs solutions by, for example, outsourcing services. One helping factor for the lack of doctors could be updating education for nurses. A special updating education for radiographers, nurses and midwives enables the nurses to make certain ultrasound examinations by themselves. So doctors’ work could be diminished. However, the responsibility of the examinations and the work of sonographers still remain with the doctor. Metropolia University of Applied Sciences has been organizing this updating sonographer training from the year 2003. They have asked for feedback about the education of the courses so that students could tell how useful and needed the education is. In this study, I collected students’ feedback by using a theme interview. I wanted to know the students’ opinions as open-heartedly and honestly as possible in their own words. By using this collected feedback, it is possible to improve the education. The feedback from the students shows that there are hopes and needs for developing the education, both by the learning institution and by the workplaces. Most critical were the comments about the timing and relation of theory to education and practice. There were also times when resources of the workplaces were not enough for the practice needed. The responsibilities and sharing information between school and workplace should be made clear in early part of the education so that the information about students’ readiness and demand of theory training would be clear with all parties. The development ideas have been gathered by analysing the answers of the interviewed students

Pintaporalaitteiden sähkövikatyypit ja -testaus

Opinnäytetyö tehtiin toimeksiantona Sandvik Mining and Constructionin Tampereen toimipisteen pintaporalaitteiden sähkö- ja automaatiosuunnittelutiimille. Työssä tutkittiin uusissa pintaporalaitteissa ilmeneviä sähkövikoja. Lisäksi haluttiin selvittää, miksi osa näistä sähkövioista ilmenee vasta käyttöönotossa tai hieman sen jälkeen. Työn tavoitteena oli myös selvittää poralaitteille tehtäviä sähkötestauksia. Työssä on kaksi osaa. Ensimmäisen osan tarkoituksena oli selvittää Sandvikin omista laatutietokannoista sähköiset vikatyypit, joita uusissa pintaporalaitteissa vasta asiakkaalla ilmenee. Näistä koostettiin jokaiselle laitetyypille oma kaavionsa, sillä kaikilla laitetyypeillä oli omat ongelmakohtansa. Siksi täysin identtisiä vertailuja ei laitteiden kesken kyetty tekemään. Toisessa osassa tutkittiin pintaporalaitteiden sähkökokoonpanojen hajautettua sähkötestausta. Pintaporalaitteille tehtävistä sähkötestauksista ei sähkö- ja automaatiosuunnittelutiimillä ollut minkäänlaista tietoa tai dokumentointia, joten sähkötestaukseen tutustuminen oli merkittävä osa työtä. Lisäksi tutkittiin ja mietittiin mahdollisia sähkötestauksen kehitys- ja ongelmakohtia, kun vertailukohtana sähkötestaustietämykseen oli Sandvikin omat laatutietokannat. Kummatkin työn osiot onnistuivat hyvin, ja niistä saatiin käyttökelpoista tietoa tulevaisuutta varten. Lisäksi työ lisäsi huomattavasti ymmärrystä ja tietämystä Sandvikilla, sillä kokoonpanojen sähkötestaustavat ja -menetelmät kävivät hyvin selkeiksi sähkötes-taukseen tutustumisen myötä.This thesis was commissioned by the electrical designer team of surface drills in Sandvik Mining and Construction Tampere facility. The purpose was to find out why some faults occur shortly after implementation. Every surface drill will be electrically tested before being delivered to a customer. This thesis has two parts. In the first part all electrical fault types which occur after delivery to a customer were determined. The details for this part were obtained from quality data bases of Sandvik. Charts were made to every drill family with all electrical fault types included. Because the fault types are not identical in all drill families, the charts are not totally comparable. In the second part the distributed testing of electrical assemblies of surface drills was studied. The electrical designer team did not have any previous data or documentation about this electrical testing in Sandvik. The data were needed, because troubleshooting is easier with some knowledge about testing. Also problems and improvements in electrical testing were studied, based on the quality data bases of Sandvik. Both parts of this thesis were successful and gave useful information for the future. This thesis also gave a great deal of information and understanding to Sandvik. After inspecting the electrical testing, the information about testing and the methods used in testing electrical assemblies became clear

Vitamin D Levels Affect Survival in a BCR-ABL Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Mouse Model but Do Not Cause Vitamin-Drug Interactions

It is a well-established phenomenon that dietary components containing CYP3A inducers or inhibitors if co-administered with drugs that are CYP3A4 substrates lead to marked drug-drug interactions. Because vitamin D is known to regulate intestinal CYP3A expression and gut CYP3A expression plays an important role in pre-systemic metabolism of CYP3A drugs, we determined the impact of vitamin D (VD3) status on systemic exposure and efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents that are CYP3A substrates. We employed VD3 sufficient and deficient mice to perform pharmacokinetics (PK) and anti-leukemic efficacy studies. First, using hCYP3A4 transgenic mouse model we evaluated the intestinal, hepatic and renal expression of hCYP3A4, mouse CYPs and transporters in VD3 sufficient vs. deficient mice. We observed that female VD3 deficient mice had significantly lower duodenal mouse Cyp3a11 and hCYP3A4 expression than VD3 sufficient mice. Since intestinal CYP3A plays a significant role in first pass metabolism of drugs that are administered orally, chemotherapeutic agents such as dexamethasone (DEX) and dasatinib which are given orally to the patients were chosen to study the effect of VD3 status on systemic exposure of these CYP3A4 substrates. In C57BL/6 mice, we performed dexamethasone PK study, where we observed male VD3 deficient mice had higher plasma DEX levels compared to sufficient mice on day 3.5. No significant differences were observed in females. Another CYP3A4 substrate, dasatinib PK was also performed where AUC’s were not significantly different between groups. However, during early absorption at t = 0.25 hr, VD3 deficient male mice had significantly higher dasatinib plasma levels compared to VD3 sufficient mice. In conclusion, VD3 levels (sufficient vs. deficient) significantly altered intestinal Cyp3a expression in female hCYP3A4 mice, and in male’s, plasma exposure was different for orally administered DEX at 3.5 days, dasatinib at 0.25 hr. Ultimately, there was no significant effect of VD3 status on DEX or dasatinib PK indicating no potential vitamin drug interactions. However, DEX being a potential CYP3A inducer, we also observed significant induction of multiple mouse Cyp3a’s in intestine of VD3 deficient but not VD3 sufficient mice. This differential induction of Cyp3a’s due to vitamin D status could lead to drug interactions with other co-administered CYP3A substrates. Given the high prevalence of VD3 deficiency in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients, we evaluated the effect of vitamin D deficiency on survival outcome from pre-B cell Arf -/- BCR-ABL acute lymphoblastic leukemia in a murine model. Vitamin D sufficient mice died earlier (p To investigate the mechanism by which vitamin D affected the survival and disease growth in VD3 sufficient mice, we performed in vitro studies and demonstrated 1, 25-dihydroxy vitamin D (1, 25-(OH)2VD3) increased the number of BCR-ABL ALL cells only when co-cultured with bone marrow stroma. 1, 25-(OH)2VD3 induced CXCL12 production in vivo and in vitro in bone marrow stromal cells and CXCL12 increased stromal migration and the number of BCR-ABL blasts. Vitamin D together with ALL reprogrammed the marrow environment by increasing production of Type I and V collagens, potentially trapping ALL blasts and CXCL12 expression to support tumor progression and leukemia cell homing. In conclusion, although vitamin D deficiency did not cause significant interactions with anti-leukemic CYP3A4 substrates, there was a significant effect on disease progression and survival of mice from BCR-ABL ALL

Subjective Reactions to Noise in Open-Plan Offices and the Effects of Noise on Cognitive Performance - Problems and Solutions

This thesis examines the effects of noise on cognitive performance and subjective reactions in open-plan offices. Earlier research suggests that the acoustic distraction largely results from background speech that is irrelevant to the listener. Combining methods from psychology and room acoustic research, this thesis investigates speech intelligibility as a predictor of the negative effects of background speech and examines some design-related solutions to decreasing these problems. Speech intelligibility is described with the Speech Transmission Index (STI) and the distraction distance which is a room acoustic parameter based on the STI. Evidence from three laboratory experiments and two field studies is presented. The results show that the general perception of both disturbing noise (Study IV) and office distractions (Study V) is strongly correlated with disturbing background speech in open-plan offices. An increase in office distractions mediates negative changes in environmental satisfaction, perceived collaboration and stress symptoms following a move to a modern open-plan office (Study V). The laboratory studies (I, II and III) show that speech intelligibility predicts particularly subjective perceptions of acoustic disturbance but also performance in verbal short-term memory and working memory tasks. The observed performance results are compatible with the STI-performance model proposed by Hongisto (2005). More complex tasks with higher requirements on semantic processing were not affected (Studies I to III). In terms of the investigated solutions, the findings support the use of masking sound in increasing satisfaction with the acoustic environment (Studies I to IV). Filtered pink noise and spring water sound are effective and pleasant masking sounds whereas music cannot be recommended for general use (Study II). Together, Studies III and IV show that perceived noise disturbance can be decreased in open-plan offices by holistic room acoustic design. However, its benefits are limited at short distances between nearby workstations (Study III). Distraction distance predicts perceived noise disturbance in open-plan offices (Study IV), which supports its use in the evaluation and design of office acoustics. The provision of additional quiet workspaces is a complementary way of decreasing the negative effects of office distractions in modern open-plan offices (Study V). Limitations of this work and suggestions for future research are discussed.Subjektiiviset reaktiot avotoimistojen meluun ja melun vaikutukset kognitiiviseen suoriutumiseen. Ongelmia ja ratkaisuja Tämä väitöskirjatutkimus käsittelee melun vaikutuksia kognitiiviseen suoriutumiseen ja subjektiivisiin reaktioihin avotoimistoissa. Aiempien tutkimusten mukaan koetut akustiset ongelmat liittyvät suurelta osin sellaisiin puheääniin, jotka ovat kuulijan kannalta hyödyttömiä. Tässä tutkimuksessa selvitetään psykologisia ja huoneakustisia tutkimusmenetelmiä yhdistäen puheenerotettavuuden merkitystä puheen negatiivisten vaikutusten selittäjänä sekä tutkitaan toimistosuunnittelun keinoja ongelmien vähentämiseksi. Puheenerotettavuutta kuvataan puheensiirtoindeksillä ja häiritsevyyssäteellä, joka on puheensiirtoindeksiin perustuva huoneakustinen mittaluku. Tutkimus sisältää kolme kokeellista laboratoriotutkimusta ja kaksi kenttätutkimusta. Tulosten perusteella sekä häiritsevä melu (Tutkimus IV) että kokemus työympäristön häiriötekijöistä (Tutkimus V) korreloivat vahvasti puheäänten häiritsevyyden kanssa. Häiriötekijöiden lisääntyminen toimii välittävänä tekijänä suhteessa negatiivisiin muutoksiin ympäristötyytyväisyydessä, yhteistyön kokemisessa sekä stressioireissa avotoimistoon muuton jälkeen (Tutkimus V). Laboratoriotutkimukset (I, II ja III) osoittavat, että puheenerotettavuus ennustaa erityisesti akustisten olosuhteiden subjektiivista häiritsevyyttä, mutta myös suoriutumista verbaalisissa lyhytkestoisen muistin ja työmuistin tehtävissä. Kognitiivista suoriutumista koskevat tulokset ovat yhdenmukaisia Hongiston (2005) esittämän, puheensiirtoindeksin ja suoriutumisen suhdetta kuvaavan mallin kanssa. Kompleksisemmissa, enemmän semanttista prosessointia sisältävissä tehtävissä ei havaittu puheäänten vaikutuksia kognitiiviseen suoriutumiseen (Tutkimukset I-III). Tutkittujen ratkaisukeinojen osalta tulokset tukevat peiteäänen käyttöä akustisen tyytyväisyyden parantamisessa (Tutkimukset I-IV). Suodatettu kohina ja puronsolina ovat tehokkaita ja miellyttäviä peiteääniä, kun taas musiikkia ei voida suositella yleiseen käyttöön (Tutkimus II). Tutkimukset III ja IV osoittavat, että akustisia ongelmia voidaan vähentää kokonaisvaltaisella huoneakustisella suunnittelulla. Sen hyödyt ovat kuitenkin rajallisia lyhyillä etäisyyksillä lähityöpisteiden välillä (Tutkimus III). Häiritsevyyssäde selittää koettua melun häiritsevyyttä avotoimistoissa (Tutkimus IV), mikä tukee sen käyttöä toimistojen akustisten olosuhteiden arvioinnissa ja suunnittelussa. Työympäristön häiriötekijöiden negatiivisia vaikutuksia voidaan lisäksi vähentää rakentamalla avotoimistoihin vaihtoehtoisia hiljaisia työtiloja (Tutkimus V). Väitöskirjan lopussa tarkastellaan tutkimuksen rajoituksia sekä jatkotutkimustarpeita.Siirretty Doriast

Biomimetic Growth and Morphology Control of Calcium Oxalates

With respect to the principles of biomineralization, it is of interest to study the crystallization of calcium oxalates under various experimental conditions. Calcium oxalates play decisive roles as biominerals in plants and as pathological “urinary/kidney stones” in vertebrates. Calcium oxalate exists in three different hydration states; calcium oxalate monohydrate (COM, monoclinic, a = 6.290(1)Å, b = 14.583(1)Å, c = 10.116(1)Å, β = 109.46°, P21/c), calcium oxalate dihydrate (COD, tetragonal, a = b = 12.371(3)Å, c = 7.357(2)Å, α = β = γ = 90°, I4/m) and calcium oxalate trihydrate (COT, triclinic, a = 6.11(1)Å, b = 7.167(2)Å, c = 8.457(2)Å, α = 76.5(2)°, β = 70.35(2)°, γ = 70.62(2)°, P ). Monoclinic COM and tetragonal COD are the most common phyto-crystals and the main constituents of kidney and urinary stones. The occurrence of calcium oxalates in plants represents a useful biogenesis (protection against herbivores) unlike the devastating occurrence in renal tubules. Therefore, biomineralization can be physiological or pathological. A systematic investigation of the morphological evolution of calcium oxalates in the presence of organic components is essential for understanding the mechanism of “pathological biomineralization”. In order to understand the pathological biomineralization of uroliths, it is necessary grow calcium oxalates comparable in morphology under similar growth conditions. The formation of calcium oxalate stones within a gelatinous state of proteins, polysaccharides, lipids and other biomacromolecules under a flow of supersaturated urine supports the fact that an “organic” gel model can simulate the process of urinary stone formation under in vitro conditions. Furthermore, synthetic polymers with precisely known functions and solution behaviours are better choices to understand the interaction of acidic proteins with calcium oxalates. Therefore, as a first step to unravel the complex pathology of uro/nephro lithiasis, we started to examine the structure and morphology of calcium oxalates crystallized in the presence of organic additives such as the sodium salt of polyacrylic acid (PAA) as well as agar gel. The influence of initial calcium oxalate concentration, pH and concentration of the additives on the formation of hydration states of calcium oxalates have been investigated along with the stated general methods. Apart from the three hydrated forms, calcium oxalate exists also in the anhydrous form (COA). Although three modifications of COA (α, β and γ) are reported in the literatures, the crystal structures and phase transformations were controversially discussed. We have been able to reveal the crystal structure of the β-modification of the anhydrous calcium oxalate by a combination of atomistic simulations and Rietveld refinements on the basis of powder X-ray diffraction pattern. β-COA belongs to the monoclinic system with unit cell parameters, a = 6.1644(3)Å, b = 7.3623(2)Å, c = 9.5371(5)Å, β = 90.24(2)°, P2/m (No. 10). The dehydration of COM was mimicked in silico to receive an initial model of the crystal structure of anhydrous calcium oxalate. This general approach may also be accessible for other decomposition processes ending up with crystalline powders of unknown crystal structure. No evidence for transformations from or to the α- or γ- modifications was found during our investigations. The growth pattern of COD crystals precipitated from aqueous solutions in the presence of PAA is clearly dependent on the concentration of PAA. By increasing the concentration of PAA, the shape of COD has been found to change from tetragonal bi-pyramids with dominant (101) pyramidal faces to tetragonal prisms with dominant (100) prism faces and finally to dumbbells. At still higher PAA concentrations, the morphology is reverted back to rod-like tetragonal prisms. Apart from these experiments, the interaction of PAA with (100) and (101) crystal faces of COD was explored with the aid of atomistic simulations. The simulation confirmed that during the development of the aggregates, strong interactions of PAA with the (100) faces take over control of morphologies. Our investigations show that the inner architecture of all the morphological varieties of COD was found to be dominated by an inner “core” consisting of thin elongated crystallites together with incorporated PAA and an outer “shell” formed as a consequence of secondary nucleation processes. We propose that for all types of COD aggregates, relative proportion of calcium oxalate and PAA dictates the shape and formation of nanometer sized crystallites which then aggregate and align to form the core. Such cores enriched with PAA may act as the sites for secondary nucleation events of calcium oxalate crystallites which then cover the core like a shell. In vitro experimental models for the growth of calcium oxalates can give valuable information on the growth and aggregation of urinary stones. Therefore, the “double diffusion technique” in agar gel matrix has been used for the biomimetic growth of calcium oxalate (COM) stones. A great variety of morphological forms of COM are produced in agar gel matrices (2 wt.-% agar gel of pH 8.5) ranging from platy crystallites to dumbbells and spherulites. The COM dumbbells and spherulites are assumed to be formed by the aggregation of smaller crystallites as a consequence of increased supersaturation inside the gel. Moreover, an increase of the pH value of the agar gel has been found to suppress the growth of COM and favours the growth of COD. The morphology of COD crystals grown in 2 wt.-% agar gel of pH 11.5 includes tetragonal prisms and dumbbells. The system calcium oxalate/ PAA/ H2O is a suitable model system for the investigation of principles of biomineral growth (shape development) in general. Our results demonstrate that the double diffusion technique in agar gel is a convenient route to grow calcium oxalate aggregates showing close resemblance to biogenic calculi and to study their ontogeny